Commentary
Commentary
What we're reading this week: January 23, 2025
A New York Times analysis finds that top colleges didn’t see major changes in student diversity following the end of affirmative action in 2023.
Podcast
Governance
#953: From Biden to Trump: Rank punditry, with Rick Hess
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Rick Hess, the director of education policy studies
Commentary
Charter Schools, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
New York is the supernova of education reform
“A supernova is what happens when a star has reached the end of its life and explodes in a brilliant burst of light. Supernovas can briefly outshine entire galaxies and radiate more energy than our sun will in its entire lifetime.” —Nancy Taylor Tillman, Space.com
Commentary
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
Get ready for more bad news from NAEP 2024
The forthcoming results from the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress—due out on January 29—are likely to be bad, bad, bad. The term we may hear a lot is that “the bottom is falling out,” if the scores for low-performing students in particular continue to plummet.
Commentary
Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Private School Choice
Fault lines in the MAGA coalition and what they mean for education
President-elect Donald Trump is about to return to Washington with a ragtag coalition, united in their rejection of the status quo. Yet this shared opposition has also led to a rash of infighting over a range of policy issues.
Commentary
Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
On school shootings
It’s not with pleasure that I tackle the too-frequent topic of school shootings. The latest in Madison, Wisconsin, claimed the lives of two and left six others injured, just a stone’s throw away from my own school. Friends of mine were on the scene.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
Arkansas’ effort to make Advanced Placement courses universally accessible
The Advanced Placement (AP) program, celebrating its seventieth anniversary this year, has largely lived up to the promise of encouraging and rewarding ambitious high school students looking to prepare themselves for college rigor.
Commentary
Commentary
What we're reading this week: January 16, 2025
Professor Douglas Fuchs is challenging the prevailing belief that inclusion is best for students with disabilities, arguing that the evidence supporting it is weak and that many students may benefit more from specialized instruction in separate settings.
Podcast
Governance
#952: Unpacking the impact of Wisconsin's Act 10 on teacher pay, with Barbara Biasi
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Barbara Biasi, assistan
Commentary
Governance, Private School Choice
Passing school choice legislation is likely the easiest part of creating new school choices for families and students
After more than a decade of trying to launch some form of education savings account/tax credit program for parent choice, it looks like Idaho’s legislature is likely to pass legislation this year to get it done.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders
How college AP and IB policies make it harder to graduate early
Once upon a time, such as when I entered college in 1962, it was possible—correction: it was relatively easy—to graduate in three years with the help of Advanced Placement scores that you submitted upon arrival.
Commentary
Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
Education reform in red versus blue states
Is the conventional wisdom right that both parties have abandoned education reform? The evidence indicates that it’s mostly fair when it comes to Democrats, but not so fair when it comes to the GOP—at least if we look beyond Washington to the states.
Commentary
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance
Third grade is too late to assess student literacy
I’m going to give you a reading test. Ready? Say these words out loud: Chip Hill Jars Bep Fod Glork
Commentary
Evidence-Based Learning, Governance
A system designed to preserve the status quo: New York City Public Schools’ kindergarten choice program
Allowing families to express their preferences for various schools—whether inside or beyond their geographically-zoned building or district—sounds good in theory. Indeed, we’ve been hearing for decades that a zip code should never determine the quality of a child’s education.
Commentary
Evidence-Based Learning, Governance
Who and what you know: The impact of middle school diversity on New York’s high school choice program
De facto segregation persists in schools across the United State
Commentary
Commentary
What we're reading this week: January 9, 2025
Girls’ math, reading, and science test scores have declined sharply since the pandemic, possibly driven by a greater focus on boys’ educational outcomes in recent years or the increased household responsibilities many girls took on during the pandemic. We also wonder about the impact of social media.
Podcast
Governance
#951: The future of federal education policy under Trump, with Alyson Klein
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Alyson Klein, assistant editor
Commentary
Accountability & Testing, Governance, Advanced Education
Ramaswamy nailed the education challenge
I’m no “tech bro,” nor a fan of Ramaswamy (or Musk), but Vivek was right this time:
